Electronic equipment in particular has been advanced in recent years to such a degree that equipment that used to fill an entire room and cost millions of dollars can now be assembled into a work station that will easily fit on a normal desk top, at a cost that can be measured in the several thousands of dollars. The various electronic circuitry has been miniaturized and can be rapidly and inexpensively printed on circuit boards. Automatic assembly line production processes can quickly and accurately build the various components that enable performance of the desired functions of the work station. The final stage is the assembling of the components and circuit boards into a completed unit making up the work station.
This final assembly process is typically accomplished in a manual operation. For example, a custom designed chassis is provided with the appropriate compartments wherein the subassemblies are to be mounted. The various subassemblies (e.g. which can be from 6 to 60 in number) are then one by one positioned in the designated compartments, manually fastened as by screws screwed into screw holes provided in the subassembly and chassis, and then electronically interconnected as by plugging in the appropriate conductors.
The entire process of assembly has typically required dozens and even hundreds of screws to be fastened into a single work station. Individual handling of each screw type fastener is a time consuming operation and the labor cost is a very major factor in the overall cost of the unit. It is to the reduction of this cost factor that the present invention is directed.